Gates Addresses Mideast Allies' Iran Fears

(AP)  Defense Secretary Robert Gates, seeking to soothe Mideast allies worried about Tehran's reach, said Sunday that efforts to bolster U.S. relations with Iran may still ultimately face what he called "a closed fist."

Gates was flying to Egypt, the first stop on a Mideast tour that continues in Saudi Arabia. He said part of his mission will be to assure Saudis that any U.S. outreach to Iran aims to increase security throughout the region.

Building diplomacy with Iran "will not be at the expense of our long-term relationships with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states that have been our partners and friends for decades," Gates told reporters aboard a military jet headed to Cairo.

"There's probably some concerns in the region that may draw on an exaggerated sense of what's possible," Gates said. "And I just think it's important to reassure our friends and allies in the region that while we're willing to reach out to the Iranians, as the president said, with an open hand, I think everybody in the administration, from the president on down, is pretty realistic and will be pretty tough-minded if we still encounter a closed fist."

Gates gets to Cairo on Monday and will be in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Tuesday.

He also noted concerns throughout the Mideast about Iran's influence in Baghdad, and said they could be staved off if more Arab nations opened embassies or otherwise became more involved in Iraq. Gates praised Egypt, for example, for having "taken some serious steps forward to re-engage."

Critics of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accuse him of forging ties with fellow Shiites who are allied with Iran. The issue has been a flashpoint for Iraq's Sunnis, who, under Saddam Hussein, fought Iran decades ago.

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be a major topic for Gates and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when the two men meet in Cairo early Tuesday. Gates credited Egypt as working as a go-between between the two sides.

Gates said discussions in Riyadh would include U.S. efforts to have Yemeni detainees now being held at the Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rehabilitated in Saudi facilities. An estimated 100 of the 241 Guantanamo detainees are Yemeni. The U.S. is reluctant to release them to Yemen, where convicted terrorists have escaped from prisons. But the Yemeni government has so far balked at agreeing to send the Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia.

"Clearly there will be an interest in pursuing that with them," Gates said.

Gates also welcomed any help Saudi officials could give to Pakistan's fragile government.

"The Saudis in particular have considerable influence in Pakistan," he said. "And so I think that whatever they can do to bring Pakistanis together in a broader sense to deal with the challenge to the government in Islamabad obviously would be welcome."

[babooph]

Like Obama he has mission impossible,but he may be able to fix things up a bit.

[U-R-So-Wrong]

Bush Crime Family ... blah blah blah ... everyone hates us ... blah blah ... Republi CON ... blah ... Posted by noloyalisti


Sunni Muslims fear a nuclear-armed Shi'ite Iran. They just do. Please learn to live with the actual politics of the age, not Mark Rudd's autobiography.

[batchitcrazy]

Obama is the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Before his term is over, we will be a humiliated nation with no respect from other world leaders.
Anybody who would pick Biden for VP is at least as dumb as Carter, maybe dumber.
Posted by impeachbhb at 6:11 AM : May 4, 2009
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sleep tight sparky... dubya took care of embarassing the US well before Mr. Obama even announced his campaign
even if he does make the occasional mistake, which may just happen, he's human as we all are, it will never eqaul those golden moments the "Decider" gave us

[starleo146]

Obama is the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Before his term is over, we will be a humiliated nation with no respect from other world leader Posted by impeachbhb at 6:11 AM : May 4, 2009
+ report abuse + permalink

No sorry Bush and Cheney already did that.

[batchitcrazy]

Anybody who would pick Biden for VP is at least as dumb as Carter, maybe dumber.
Posted by impeachbhb at 6:11 AM : May 4, 2009
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and selecting Sarah "ya betcha" Palin was so dumb it went off the scale

[Trust_me_]

Gates to suggest the wearing of a higher grade of sun block to our allies.

[noloyalisti]

Anybody who would pick Biden for VP is at least as dumb as Carter, maybe dumber.
Posted by impeachbhb

This is after the joke that was the Bush Crime Family administration. Don't you even realize why everyone hates us after the dumb, ignorant terrorism done by the United States by the failed, obsolete Republi CON party of death? Thanks for sharing you knowledge. By the way Carter was right about Israel and about the need for green energy.

[ibsteve2u]

*prompt my mind

[ibsteve2u]

Such stories prompt by mind to emit the exact same thought it emitted when OPEC was born:

Too bad that our oil companies would rather keep us addicted to oil than help us wean us away, isn't it?

Only in America is repeatedly acting to to ensure that our nation stays weak and vulnerable to the actions of our enemies half a world away not treason - if you do it for money.

[american_11-2009]

As serious as the terrorist threat is and especially the Taliban getting Pakistan nuclear weapons, or Iran getting Nuclear weapons, just as serious to the long term survival of this Nation as an first rate power and Nation as the Amnesty for the 20 to 40 millions invading horde of Illegal aliens. Amnesty for them and their relatives in an never ending chain will add hundreds of millions of fast breeding, uneducated, gang joining, welfare loving Hispanics which pretty much assures the future of this Nation as an Over populated, Third World, Spanish speaking Nation on the order of Mexico. Faced with that future many Americans think the terrorist and the Taliban are no worse in the long run!